Royal Babysitting
by Alexia Blackbriar
Summary: After NOTD Before DOTD. Written in Sept. Kate and Will ask the Doctor and Clara to babysit Prince George for them at a party. To say that the royal family is terrified would be an understatement. But they seem to think that the time travellers are a couple... And they have seen the future. And maybe the Doctor does care. Whouffle. One shot. No offence intended to the royal family!


"So tell me why we're going to Buckingham Palace again?" Clara asked, leaning against the TARDIS console and sipping at her mug of tea.

The Doctor had woken her up really early ("Time is relevant in a time machine!") and insisted she have a shower, and get dressed into something fancy. She had swore at him in Gallifreyan and whacked him with a pillow, but the Doctor had tipped her onto the cold floor. She had showered, deliberately taking as long as possible and attempting to use up all of the hot water on the space ship, which she soon discovered was impossible after forty seven minutes. Dressed in a short red dress (which had made the Doctor ogle at her; oh yes, she knew all about that), Clara was trying to drown her misery using tea from the TARDIS kitchens.

"We, Clara Oswald, have been formally invited to a baby reception!" the Doctor called to her, dancing around the room, his tweed coat swishing about as he hammered and pushed controls. "To celebrate the birth of Prince George Alexander Louis, Will and Kate's first baby!"

"Doctor, that was ages ago," Clara yawned, rubbing at her eyes. "I remember seeing the announcement in the news in July, when I moved into the TARDIS."

After Trenzalore, the Doctor had bugged her to move into the TARDIS with him. Clara had agreed, but only because she had come to the realisation that it would keep the Maitlands safer, as she was the keeper of the last very lonely Time Lord, and the most dangerous knowledge in the universe.

"Time machine!" he chided her, tapping on the nose as he passed. "Come on, Clara, keep up! The royal family invited us specially, after all we did to help at the wedding."

"We helped at the wedding?" Clara questioned, frowning. They had never been to a wedding on their travels...

"We will!" the Doctor cried out cheerfully. "Not yet, but soon! So now, here we are: Sunday, 4th of August, 2013, Buckingham Palace Gardens, on Earth, at 7.12pm." He span around gleefully before jumping up the stairs and sliding down the railings again, bouncing towards the door. "Come on, Clara, let's get going! There are loads of people I want to introduce you to!"

They exited the TARDIS and were immediately met by a crowd of people, who were all greeting the Doctor like some sort of hero, which Clara supposed he was, after everything he had done. Then people were hugging and smiling at her, saying how nice it was to see her again; people who Clara had never met before, who were talking to her as if she were a great friend.

"Doctor!" a woman called out coming forwards with a baby in her arms and a man following close behind. "You came!"

"Kate! Will!" the Doctor grinned, rushing forwards and dragging Clara with him. "Ah, this must be little George." He beamed at the baby, who gazed up at them with adorable eyes. "Hello, George. Nice to meet you. Yes, I know, it is a big party, isn't it? Has your Mum being telling you stories about me? This is Clara," he pointed at her, and she stuck her tongue out at the Time Lord, "Yes, she does look very pretty, doesn't she? She's beautiful."

Clara blushed, flattered, her heart beating a little bit faster, but to cover it up she scowled and said, "I still don't forgive you, Chin Boy, for waking me up at four in the morning."

"Yes, you're right, she is a bit grumpy, isn't she, George?" the Doctor said, turning back to the baby boy and smiling.

William looked confused. "Doctor, what are you doing?" he laughed, as the Time Lord apparently laughed at something the baby said.

The Doctor looked up at him, grinning. "Oh, I speak Baby."

"Of course you do," Clara sighed. "Sorry about him, your royal highness', he's like an overexcited puppy."

"Don't worry, Clara, we're used to it," Kate laughed, as the Doctor's eyes lit up and he dashed off to stroke some corgis. "And we've told you, it's Will and Kate to you. None of the formal address."

"Actually, you haven't told me," Clara admitted. "I haven't done the wedding yet."

Will looked nervous. "I hope we haven't given anything away."

"It should be fine," Clara assured him. "I'm used to all the wibbly wobbly stuff now. I have to be, living with him." She nodded over to the hyper Time Lord who was now running around the garden trying to get a butterfly to land on his head. "And I am angry about being woken up early, but how can you stay angry with him when he's like that?" The Doctor now had a butterfly on his nose and he was cross-eyed trying to look at it, something like admiration on his face.

"I know what you mean," Kate said, smiling, as the butterfly fluttered away and the Doctor pursued it, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and racing after the escaping white creature. "You two make such a cute couple."

Clara suddenly felt cold. "Oh, no... we aren't a couple," she corrected. She chided herself gently; why did she sound so disappointed? "We're just friends."

Kate looked confused for a moment. "But I thought..." Will coughed gently and Kate nodded, having some sort of realisation. She shifted baby George in her arms and then glanced at Clara. "Would you like to hold him?"

Clara was so stunned that she just nodded silently. The royal carefully placed the baby in her arms, with her husband hovering over them protectively. Clara cradled the small child in her arms, her eyes locked on his tiny body, a tingling feeling rushing through her. She liked this.

"You're a natural," Will told her. "Would you mind looking after him for a moment? I've got to find Grandmother and warn her that the Doctor's here - er, I mean, delightedly inform her our favourite Time Lord has arrived." He made to turn away, but halted, turning back with a grimace. "He didn't crush any flower beds with the TARDIS, did he?"

"Not that I know of," Clara murmured, her eyes fixed to baby George as she rocked him gently.

Kate and Will strode off, laughing as Prince Harry tried to stop the Doctor from scanning anybody with the sonic. Clara found a nearby bench and sat down on it cautiously, holding the baby in her arms like a precious bundle of joy. Prince George was asleep, his fragile fingers curled around one of Clara's fingers.

"Hey," the Doctor whispered, sitting down beside her. "George seems to like you. How are you doing?"

"I'm good," Clara replied, glancing up at him. "What about you? Did Prince Harry finally manage to stop you from traumatising any of the royal guests?"

The Doctor ignored her question, instead gazing at the sleeping baby. "I think Kate and Will had this all planned out. I think we're baby-sitting for them."

"We are?" Clara asked, looking up, frowning. "Where are they?"

"Currently having champagne with Liz and Charlie," the Doctor chuckled.

Clara shook her head, amused. "Doctor, we have to address them as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. They are the royal family. It's disrespectful to them, and it's probably treason or something. We have to call them their majesties or their royal highnesses."

"Nah, we don't," the Doctor said dismissively, like it wasn't a big deal. "We save the world on a daily basis, Clara. Oh, and your also a Dame, by the way."

"I'm a what?!" Clara cried out, shocked,

"Shh, you'll wake George," the Doctor whispered, his eyes on the baby. "And yes, apparently we both got knighted after the wedding. That makes it the first time for you, and the ninth time for me."

"I'm not even going to ask," Clara muttered, shifting slightly on the bench, so she was leaning on the Doctor's side for support. If he was uncomfortable about it, he didn't mention it.

They were silent for a few moments, and Clara rested her head back on the Doctor's shoulder, and the Doctor wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. She didn't have the heart to stop him. George shifted in the crook of her arm, sniffing.

"You'd be a great mother, Clara," the Doctor said. "You could have a baby."

She had to bite at that. "Ooh, bit eager to get me into your bed, aren't you? Down boy!" she teased him mercilessly.

However, this had to be the first time the Time Lord didn't splutter or flush red. He instead sighed and rested his own head on top of Clara's. "Clara, have you ever thought of just having a normal life on earth?" He asked her sadly. "With all the horrible human domestics and the marriage and..." He pointed to George. "Having a baby?"

"Yes," Clara confessed. "But this is the life for me. The running, the excitement... You," she added smartly on the end, smiling. "I wouldn't be able to cope with a normal human life after all I've seen and been through."

"You could still get married, and have kids," the Doctor suggested. "We could make the adventures a Wednesday thing, like back when you were a nanny for the Maitlands."

"I guess," she hummed. "But really, a baby on the TARDIS? You wouldn't be able to cope."

The Doctor looked offended. "I would! I've had children on the TARDIS before! Angie and Artie, remember?"

"And to be fair, they did almost get killed," Clara reminded him, rolling her eyes.

The Doctor gazed at her, and there was something glinting in his eyes. Maybe it was tears, but Clara didn't know. "Clara, I've had children before," he informed her quietly. "And you know that."

"I know," she whispered, shifting closer to him and hugging him slightly with one arm, while she used to other to steady the baby. "I'm sorry for bringing it up." She paused and then murmured, "You'd be a very good father, Doctor. Maybe irresponsible, and an idiot," she added, as the Doctor was now grinning as if he'd won the lottery, "But you'd be an amazing Dad."

The Doctor smiled a her, hugging her closer and then, Clara's heart skipped a beat and her breathing hitched as he leaned forwards to place a chaste kiss on her lips, before laying his head back onto hers.

"We could do it," the Doctor whispered, "We could settle down, live on Earth, no adventures or danger. We could have children."

Clara's throat was dry. He had never heard him ever say that he would be prepared for a domestic life before. "Doctor..."

The Time Lord squeezed her and insisted determinedly, "Clara, we could do it. Both of us. You and me, married, with kids of our own. The Doctor and the Impossible Girl, the best parents ever."

"Oh, and now you want to marry and have kids with me," Clara said teasingly, before trailing off and murmuring quietly, "Would you really do that?"

The Doctor nodded silently, before whispering, "I would try. For you."

Clara sighed shallowly and contently, reaching up and turning to press her forehead against the Doctor's, her spare hand against his chest as he felt his double hearts through his overcoat. "You would never be able to do it," she mumbled. "And the sad truth is... Neither would I."

And that was where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge found them half an hour later. The pair seated on the bench, Clara half-sitting, asleep, in the Doctor's lap, cradling baby Prince George in her arms, her head on the Doctor's shoulder,  
while the Time Lord slept with his head resting of hers, holding Clara to his chest protectively with his arms around her waist, and one hand resting upon Clara's to help support baby George.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh appeared behind them, and both were smiling fondly. Harry came up, looking relieved that the Doctor had finally calmed down.

"At the wedding," Elizabeth said slowly. "They were married."

"Clara was pregnant," Harry added.

Kate chuckled. "And they say they aren't a couple."


End file.
